1 00:00:15,130 --> 00:00:24,170 Speaker 1: Pushkin. There have been five major extinction events on our planet. 2 00:00:24,650 --> 00:00:28,890 Speaker 1: Events caused by change is so severe that many species 3 00:00:28,930 --> 00:00:36,050 Speaker 1: simply can't adapt in a world gone haywire. Sometimes art 4 00:00:36,370 --> 00:00:39,050 Speaker 1: is the only thing that can make sense of it all. 5 00:00:40,370 --> 00:00:44,130 Speaker 1: Or David Attenborough. Right now we are in the midst 6 00:00:44,170 --> 00:00:49,650 Speaker 1: of the Earth's sixth mass extinction. That's Sir David Attenborough, 7 00:00:50,010 --> 00:00:53,370 Speaker 1: the voice of some of the most beautiful nature documentaries 8 00:00:53,450 --> 00:00:57,530 Speaker 1: ever made. And this is the Chronicles of Now, where 9 00:00:57,530 --> 00:01:00,570 Speaker 1: we ask some of today's greatest authors to write short 10 00:01:00,610 --> 00:01:04,930 Speaker 1: fiction inspired by the news. I'm Ashley Ford. Up to 11 00:01:05,010 --> 00:01:08,450 Speaker 1: one million species of plants and animals face extinction, many 12 00:01:08,530 --> 00:01:11,850 Speaker 1: within death gains. That is according to new United Nations 13 00:01:11,850 --> 00:01:15,690 Speaker 1: report The Environmental News these days. Let's get real here, 14 00:01:16,410 --> 00:01:22,850 Speaker 1: it's bad, really bad, worst than coronavirus bad. Even David 15 00:01:22,970 --> 00:01:28,370 Speaker 1: Attenborough can't make it better bad, And it's all our fault. Yes, 16 00:01:28,690 --> 00:01:32,690 Speaker 1: we humans have gone and fed it up. People can 17 00:01:32,730 --> 00:01:36,410 Speaker 1: be the absolute worst or sometimes the absolute best, and 18 00:01:38,010 --> 00:01:41,610 Speaker 1: it kind of sucks. This is Manuel Gonzalez. It would 19 00:01:41,610 --> 00:01:43,930 Speaker 1: be nice, right if people could just be always the 20 00:01:43,970 --> 00:01:47,370 Speaker 1: absolute best, But in this case they're they're the worst. 21 00:01:48,410 --> 00:01:51,570 Speaker 1: Manuel Gonzalez is the author of the novel the Regional 22 00:01:51,650 --> 00:01:56,650 Speaker 1: Office is under attack. He's a fantastical writer, so maybe 23 00:01:56,650 --> 00:02:00,090 Speaker 1: it should be unsurprising that the concept of species extinction 24 00:02:00,490 --> 00:02:04,250 Speaker 1: got him thinking about wait for it. For some reason, 25 00:02:04,410 --> 00:02:08,890 Speaker 1: it made me think of Black Box Theater and I, 26 00:02:09,490 --> 00:02:12,570 Speaker 1: which is also on its way out. It feels like sadly, 27 00:02:12,890 --> 00:02:16,290 Speaker 1: especially now with the quarantine, but it made me think 28 00:02:16,290 --> 00:02:18,730 Speaker 1: of that, and then like a tiny little spotlight on 29 00:02:18,850 --> 00:02:21,890 Speaker 1: like the very last thing, and then I just kind 30 00:02:21,930 --> 00:02:25,770 Speaker 1: of kept going with it. I sent it to a 31 00:02:25,810 --> 00:02:28,650 Speaker 1: couple of friends who were really mad at me for 32 00:02:30,210 --> 00:02:34,290 Speaker 1: foisting such a disturbing and what they thought was very 33 00:02:34,370 --> 00:02:47,770 Speaker 1: funny and then unsettling little fiction at them. It's not 34 00:02:47,850 --> 00:02:51,290 Speaker 1: that they expected there to be a huge crowd, certainly 35 00:02:51,330 --> 00:02:54,970 Speaker 1: not African gray parros sized, which had been thirty thousand 36 00:02:55,050 --> 00:02:58,050 Speaker 1: people easily. They'd had to rent out Fenway Park for 37 00:02:58,170 --> 00:03:03,170 Speaker 1: that one. Or Mary River turtle crowds nearly nineteen thousand people. 38 00:03:03,450 --> 00:03:06,530 Speaker 1: But that wasn't too surprising. Any turtle, no matter what 39 00:03:06,650 --> 00:03:10,570 Speaker 1: kind of turtle, puts butts in seats, or even broad 40 00:03:10,610 --> 00:03:15,050 Speaker 1: billed hummingbird big well, and let's be honest, no one 41 00:03:15,090 --> 00:03:17,610 Speaker 1: expected the broad builled hummingbird crowd to be as big 42 00:03:17,610 --> 00:03:25,330 Speaker 1: as it was. Originally, they'd booked a five hundred seat 43 00:03:25,410 --> 00:03:27,690 Speaker 1: venue for that job, thinking they'd be lucky to fill 44 00:03:27,770 --> 00:03:30,570 Speaker 1: half of it, because who even knew about the broad 45 00:03:30,570 --> 00:03:34,050 Speaker 1: billed hummingbird except for Kevin creeping in the back of 46 00:03:34,090 --> 00:03:38,370 Speaker 1: the office with all his North American bird books. But 47 00:03:38,450 --> 00:03:41,650 Speaker 1: then all five hundred tickets sold out in forty five minutes, 48 00:03:43,090 --> 00:03:47,090 Speaker 1: so Jerry worked her magic, canceled the smaller venue, booked 49 00:03:47,090 --> 00:03:50,250 Speaker 1: a theater three times the size across town, and that 50 00:03:50,410 --> 00:03:53,530 Speaker 1: sold out again in another half hour, not to mention 51 00:03:53,570 --> 00:03:55,810 Speaker 1: all the pay per viewed tickets they sold once the 52 00:03:55,810 --> 00:03:58,090 Speaker 1: rest of the birding community got wind of the event. 53 00:03:59,490 --> 00:04:04,290 Speaker 1: All this for a fucking hummingbird, Jerry said, shaking her 54 00:04:04,290 --> 00:04:07,330 Speaker 1: head at the weeping, the sobbing as the last bit 55 00:04:07,370 --> 00:04:10,970 Speaker 1: of life eked out of that last humbird. Just think 56 00:04:11,010 --> 00:04:12,770 Speaker 1: how much money we'd have made if we'd done this 57 00:04:12,850 --> 00:04:16,810 Speaker 1: sort of thing for the goddamn amer leopard or Jesus 58 00:04:16,850 --> 00:04:20,250 Speaker 1: the Asian elephant. We'd be fucking retired if we'd done 59 00:04:20,250 --> 00:04:29,330 Speaker 1: this with the Asian elephant. But still here they were, 60 00:04:30,010 --> 00:04:34,770 Speaker 1: in a black box theater in Queens fucking queens for 61 00:04:34,850 --> 00:04:41,090 Speaker 1: Christ's sake, Jerry said, practically spitting with a capacity hovering 62 00:04:41,090 --> 00:04:44,610 Speaker 1: it right around one hundred bodies, the four of them 63 00:04:44,730 --> 00:04:48,410 Speaker 1: watching the very last American burying beetle on this the 64 00:04:48,530 --> 00:04:53,970 Speaker 1: planet Earth. Breathe, it's very last breath to fucking beetles 65 00:04:54,010 --> 00:04:58,450 Speaker 1: even breathe, Jerry asked. And you could count the number 66 00:04:58,490 --> 00:05:02,210 Speaker 1: of people in attendance on two hands. I told you 67 00:05:02,250 --> 00:05:05,930 Speaker 1: we should have done my thing. Kevin whispered. Shut up 68 00:05:05,970 --> 00:05:11,250 Speaker 1: about your thing, Jerry said, turned the lights, cue the soundtrack. 69 00:05:16,450 --> 00:05:20,010 Speaker 1: The problem was most of your crowd pleasers had already 70 00:05:20,050 --> 00:05:24,450 Speaker 1: died out. Add to that an oversaturated market. You get 71 00:05:24,490 --> 00:05:27,410 Speaker 1: six people plus staff sitting in an empty theater in 72 00:05:27,490 --> 00:05:32,930 Speaker 1: Queen's waiting for a bug to kick it back. When 73 00:05:32,970 --> 00:05:36,810 Speaker 1: they'd started out, no one was working extinction witnessing events. 74 00:05:37,690 --> 00:05:41,450 Speaker 1: Now there were a hundred companies doing the same. Kevin's 75 00:05:41,490 --> 00:05:44,890 Speaker 1: thing had been simple enough. Don't sell tickets to witness 76 00:05:44,930 --> 00:05:48,730 Speaker 1: the extinction of just one buck. Nah nah, boss, it 77 00:05:48,930 --> 00:05:52,650 Speaker 1: said to Jerry, even though Jerry wasn't anyone's boss. You 78 00:05:52,730 --> 00:05:56,090 Speaker 1: gotta make it big, make it flashy, Gather up a 79 00:05:56,130 --> 00:05:59,770 Speaker 1: bunch of bugs, right, rent a warehouse. Let them all loose, right, 80 00:06:00,170 --> 00:06:02,370 Speaker 1: It's like a big party. You pay to get in 81 00:06:02,650 --> 00:06:05,490 Speaker 1: as a cash bar. We rent out muck boots. Call 82 00:06:05,570 --> 00:06:09,450 Speaker 1: it like the Killing Fields. You're not just witnessing inction, 83 00:06:09,690 --> 00:06:16,250 Speaker 1: you're causing it. It'll be huge. It probably would have 84 00:06:16,250 --> 00:06:21,250 Speaker 1: been huge, bigger than this anyway. A competing outfit across 85 00:06:21,290 --> 00:06:24,490 Speaker 1: town had done something similar, gathered the last of the 86 00:06:24,570 --> 00:06:28,890 Speaker 1: North American rock cresses You're smooth, You're Green, and thrown 87 00:06:28,890 --> 00:06:32,370 Speaker 1: in some variants of sweet grass and milk vetch, and 88 00:06:32,490 --> 00:06:35,530 Speaker 1: Jerry scoffed, who's going to pay money to watch a 89 00:06:35,570 --> 00:06:40,010 Speaker 1: fucking plant go extinct? But then they rented out a 90 00:06:40,050 --> 00:06:43,930 Speaker 1: big space and four flame throwers and protective gear, hired 91 00:06:43,970 --> 00:06:47,370 Speaker 1: some off duty firefighters, and for fifty k a pop, 92 00:06:48,170 --> 00:06:53,250 Speaker 1: you could torch the place. Last week Kevin sent him 93 00:06:53,290 --> 00:06:56,410 Speaker 1: his resume in the Killing Field's Idea, not to mention 94 00:06:56,450 --> 00:07:07,090 Speaker 1: some other ideas he'd been cooking up. The lights went down, 95 00:07:07,890 --> 00:07:11,490 Speaker 1: all but a spotlight on the stage, lighting up what 96 00:07:11,610 --> 00:07:15,770 Speaker 1: could have been from this distance, and he goddamn buck. 97 00:07:18,490 --> 00:07:24,530 Speaker 1: Then Enya's watermark piped in over the crappy speakers, and 98 00:07:25,890 --> 00:07:30,690 Speaker 1: Jerry closed her eyes. Oh he's gotta be fucking Enya. 99 00:07:42,730 --> 00:07:47,050 Speaker 1: That was The Extinction Show by Manuel Gonzalez. The reader 100 00:07:47,330 --> 00:07:51,690 Speaker 1: was Eduardo Ballerini. Manuel Gonzalez, I've got a bone to 101 00:07:51,730 --> 00:07:56,570 Speaker 1: pick with you. Oh sure, why Enya and not Sarah McLaughlin. 102 00:07:56,970 --> 00:08:01,210 Speaker 1: I think of Sarah McLaughlin as the musical patron saint 103 00:08:01,370 --> 00:08:06,650 Speaker 1: of wounded and or extinct animals and you went full Enya. 104 00:08:06,850 --> 00:08:09,610 Speaker 1: Can we talk about that? Yeah, we can. You know, 105 00:08:09,690 --> 00:08:13,650 Speaker 1: it's a very particular choice, built on the fact that 106 00:08:13,730 --> 00:08:17,810 Speaker 1: I had a roommate who forced us to listen to 107 00:08:18,850 --> 00:08:21,410 Speaker 1: en Yet every night while he tried to go to 108 00:08:21,450 --> 00:08:24,290 Speaker 1: sleep when we were dorm mates in college. And it 109 00:08:24,330 --> 00:08:30,450 Speaker 1: feels like the perfect final note of this just terrible 110 00:08:30,530 --> 00:08:35,490 Speaker 1: story that I made up. The story is exaggerating something 111 00:08:35,530 --> 00:08:38,930 Speaker 1: our culture does, which is to turn everything we can 112 00:08:39,090 --> 00:08:43,330 Speaker 1: into entertainment in order to make a book. Yet here 113 00:08:43,410 --> 00:08:49,210 Speaker 1: you are making me laugh an Extinction show and that 114 00:08:49,330 --> 00:08:52,170 Speaker 1: kind of makes speak of Manuel. Are you part of 115 00:08:52,170 --> 00:08:56,210 Speaker 1: the problem I might turn this into entertainment. You've entertained me. 116 00:08:57,570 --> 00:09:00,650 Speaker 1: It's uncomfortable how funny I think this story is, and 117 00:09:00,730 --> 00:09:03,210 Speaker 1: I wrote it, and I shouldn't think my own stuff 118 00:09:03,250 --> 00:09:05,890 Speaker 1: is as funny, But I think. What I like to do, though, 119 00:09:06,050 --> 00:09:08,610 Speaker 1: is make people then feel really bad about the thing 120 00:09:08,650 --> 00:09:12,970 Speaker 1: that they've found really funny. It's curious to me that 121 00:09:13,170 --> 00:09:17,210 Speaker 1: the broad billed hummingbird was a blockbuster in your story, 122 00:09:17,210 --> 00:09:21,690 Speaker 1: because A I love birds, like known birdlover, though I'm 123 00:09:21,730 --> 00:09:23,490 Speaker 1: not sure I would want to show up for a 124 00:09:23,570 --> 00:09:26,970 Speaker 1: bird's final appearance. That would be really hard for me. 125 00:09:27,570 --> 00:09:31,410 Speaker 1: But what is your story saying about the value of 126 00:09:31,530 --> 00:09:38,530 Speaker 1: different species. There's this prioritization of the very beautiful animals. 127 00:09:38,970 --> 00:09:42,330 Speaker 1: Everybody is very fervently in favor of saving them, or 128 00:09:42,410 --> 00:09:46,010 Speaker 1: not everybody, but everybody talks a good game about that. 129 00:09:46,610 --> 00:09:49,250 Speaker 1: And then still there are so many species that we're 130 00:09:49,330 --> 00:09:51,610 Speaker 1: losing that there are a bunch of them that are 131 00:09:51,650 --> 00:09:58,610 Speaker 1: just like very pedestrian, small but beautiful biological cogs in 132 00:09:58,650 --> 00:10:02,810 Speaker 1: this ecosystem that we have to survive in. As everything 133 00:10:02,890 --> 00:10:06,090 Speaker 1: starts to die off, we're losing those as well, and 134 00:10:06,130 --> 00:10:08,690 Speaker 1: those are just as important. But people aren't going to 135 00:10:08,730 --> 00:10:13,010 Speaker 1: pay a whole lot to see the last beatle die. No, no, 136 00:10:13,130 --> 00:10:18,730 Speaker 1: they're not. This story it seems so far fetched, But 137 00:10:19,010 --> 00:10:25,370 Speaker 1: fewer and fewer things are seeming far fetched in this 138 00:10:25,450 --> 00:10:30,530 Speaker 1: day and time. Yeah, so in ten fifteen years. Could 139 00:10:30,570 --> 00:10:33,370 Speaker 1: you see a version of something like this actually happening? 140 00:10:33,490 --> 00:10:35,930 Speaker 1: Do you think it would take that long? I don't 141 00:10:35,930 --> 00:10:37,610 Speaker 1: know if it would even take that long. And I 142 00:10:37,690 --> 00:10:40,010 Speaker 1: kind of feel bad that I put this idea out 143 00:10:40,010 --> 00:10:44,130 Speaker 1: there because there's gonna be some like venture capitalist entrepreneurs 144 00:10:44,210 --> 00:10:49,330 Speaker 1: like oh yeah. You can read my full interview with 145 00:10:49,410 --> 00:10:53,330 Speaker 1: Munwe Gonzalez on our website Chronicles dot fm, where you 146 00:10:53,330 --> 00:10:56,850 Speaker 1: can also read The Extinction Show and other short fiction 147 00:10:56,970 --> 00:11:01,250 Speaker 1: torn from today's headlines. The sound designer and composer is 148 00:11:01,410 --> 00:11:05,970 Speaker 1: Art Warshaw. The producer is Curtis Box. The associate producer 149 00:11:06,090 --> 00:11:10,090 Speaker 1: is Emily Rostick. Tyler Cabott is the ecutive producer and 150 00:11:10,210 --> 00:11:14,370 Speaker 1: founder of Chronicles of Now for Pushkin Industries. Special thanks 151 00:11:14,410 --> 00:11:19,330 Speaker 1: to letamulaud In Jacob Weisberg for the Chronicles of Now podcast. 152 00:11:19,450 --> 00:11:21,570 Speaker 1: I'm Ashley Ford. Thanks for listening.